Despite Trump's visits to his properties, some of his businesses show new signs of financial decline

[Demovictory9]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/who-built-this-beautiful-place-despite-trumps-visits-to-his-properties-some-of-his-businesses-show-new-signs-of-financial-decline/2019/11/05/819869cc-f691-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html

“What a beautiful ballroom,” President Trump said as he walked into a campaign fundraiser recently at a hotel in downtown Chicago.

Donors laughed. The hotel was Trump’s. They were paying the president to cater his own fundraiser.

The Chicago event exemplifies a pattern of the Trump presidency: It was another presidential trip that brought Trump private benefits. The hotel was paid about $100,000 for the lunch, according to a Republican official who helped coordinate it.

Trump’s presence also gave a boost to a property that, like some of his others, is suffering from financial decline.

Profits fell 89 percent from 2015 to 2018, from $16.7 million to $1.8 million, according to documents filed with Cook County, Ill. Trump’s hotel struggled even as other Chicago hotels held steady or thrived.

“Performance of [the Trump hotel] is clearly disassociated from that of its competitive set,” the company’s lawyers said in a letter to the county seeking to lower the hotel’s taxes.

The lawyers said the problem was a reaction to Trump’s politics. They even quoted a line from a 2018 Washington Post article, in which one small-time investor described the effect of Trump’s candidacy on his buildings thusly: “Then the Embarrassment came.”

Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, which prides itself on indulgent luxury, is trying to keep up by cutting costs. In a presentation to investors, obtained by The Post, the company described leaving jobs open, cutting back on gifts for high rollers and children, and buying cheaper housekeeping supplies.

As Trump concludes the tumultuous third year of his presidency, it is becoming clear that the political environment he helped create is having consequences for the real estate empire he and his family built.

[Buns_of_Fire]

1. The MAGAts who luuuuuuuuuuv his fat ass can't afford to stay there.

(Not that they wouldn't be turned away at the door, even if they could afford it.)

While the people who CAN afford it go to much classier digs where the toilet paper isn't spray-painted with gold Rust-Oleum.

[Roy Rolling]

7. This 👆

Nailed it.

[needledriver]

2. Let me guess.

The Trump campaign won’t pay cities what they owe for city services at rallies, but they are sure as hell going to pay the Trump hotel bill!

[NCLefty]

3. Foreign influencers must have finally realized they're being heavily observed by US intel+press.

[duforsure]

4. He's probably fighting off bankruptcy now

And so desperate for cash he's selling off stuff.

[erronis]

5. Surely you can't bankrupt a sitting president, right?

Ghouliani will represent him and he'll send billy barr to the courthouse to take over the proceedings.

[Lonestarblue]

6. Good. I hope bankruptcy is in the cards.

This whole organization and the corrupt family behind just need to go away. Perhaps even Deutsche Bank will refuse to lend the Trumps any more money with all the scrutiny a new loan would get. Will Putin keep paying Trump if he sees his boy unable to win reelection?

[rurallib]

8. Some people say a president should divest himself of holdings like that

I think some of the people who said that were Madison and Jefferson and Hamilton..........

[dalton99a]

9. Trump Is Trash.

Why give money to his shit holes

[Jersey Devil]

10. It was obvious when his casinos went bankrupt

His Atlantic City casinos had dirty and worn rugs (patched in some cases with duct tape), cheezy looking furniture and dirty rest rooms. As soon as I started seeing that stuff I knew they were in trouble.

[llmart]

11. Good!

Couldn't happen to a more deserving family of grifters. Hope they all end up as Wal-Mart shoppers.

[Mopar151]

12. Dollar General Assistant Managers

Vape store cashier. Tiffany and "Beau" (nickname for Barron) may be ok in time, with careful fostering and therapy. Melania seems to like the Obamas company ok Maybe they could use a housesitter.......